Coalitions should be formed before polls: Speaker

Jaipur: Coalitions should be based on principle rather than opportunity and formed before elections, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Friday said.

On the concluding day of Presiding Officers` conference here, she said that coalitions should be formed by parties on the basis of their common programme.

On the subject of `Era of Coalition Government – its compulsions and challenges`, the common view that emerged during the discussion was that although coalition governments are not in the interest of the nation yet we cannot avoid them.
The Speakers were of the view that the legislative procedure should be strengthen to ensure adequate and proper scrutiny of laws before their enactment in order to achieve the goal of good governance, and the Constitution needs to be amended to provide for maximum numbers of sittings for legislatures to ensure proper scrutiny of legislation.

K Rehman Khan, Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha lamented that legislatures, of late, were abdicating their power to legislate so much that courts and members of civil society are now directing the legislatures not only to pass legislation
but also directing what should be contents of those bills.

He suggested that the views of the people should be taken into consideration by the legislatures in a proper manner.

Khan was also of the view that the Parliament should sit at least 110-120 days, the state legislatures for 90 days and small legislatures for a maximum of 60 days in a year and if need be, the Constitution should be amended to achieve this.